Best Mario Kart World character tier list

Our best Mario Kart World character tier lists will help you decide which racer is best for you in online multiplayer, Time Trials and offline racing.

There’s a lot of characters to unlock in Mario Kart World after all, from Rosalina to the Kamek unlock racers! It wouldn’t be surprising if you’re having trouble picking who to play as, especially if you’ve unlocked some of their outfits too. We’ve also got a kart tier list you might find useful.

So let’s take a look at the best Mario Kart World character tier lists, starting with online multiplayer before moving to Time Trails and offline racing.

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Best character tier for online multiplayer in Mario Kart World

Below you’ll find our best character tier list for playing Mario Kart World online. This list is subjective to our opinion, so your favourite might not be listed down below.

Rank	Characters
S	All lightweight characters (like Toad and Toadette)
A	Peach Daisy Yoshi Bowser Jr.
B	Birdo Mario Luigi Other mediumweight characters (like Peach and Yoshi)

Any of the lightweight characters is a perfect pick for racing online in Mario Kart World. This includes any of the Baby characters, Toad and Toadette. You can find a full list of all the lightweight characters, including the NPC characters unlocked via Kamek, on our weight class guide.

The reason why we highly recommend lightweight characters is their high acceleration and handling stats. With these you can get into first position and stay there! (With the help of some useful items of course.) Once you’ve found the right kart for your preferred lightweight character, you’ll find they typically have the right balance to be played on any track too! As we explain in our best kart combo guide, an ideal choice is the Baby Blooper as it matches the stats of a lightweight character very well.

If you don’t fancy playing as a lightweight character, however, then either Peach, Daisy, Yoshi or Bowser Jr. might suit you well. This is again due to how they all share high acceleration stats and strong handling stats. Though handling is lower compared to the lightweight characters.

You will find that you’ll need to rely on items more to reach that special first place, but if you’re up for the challenge then one of these characters will suit you well. (Yoshi has the added bonus of looking very angry at the beginning of every race!)

Finally, you could go with Eurogamer’s favourite Mario universe character – Birdo. Aside from the bonus of simply being Birdo, you’ll find yourself working with a higher speed stat. This means, despite having a low acceleration stat, Birdo will find it easier to keep first place!

The other mediumweight characters, like Mario and Luigi, are also good choices thanks to their more balanced stats. You’ll still need to hope you get the right items and take as many shortcuts as you can to give yourself an advantage though!

Best character tier list for Time Trails and offline in Mario Kart World

Here’s our best characters tier list for the Time Trials or playing offline in Mario Kart World. Keep in mind that this tier list is subjective, so your opinion may differ from ours.

Rank	Characters
S	Waluigi Bowser Other heavyweight characters (like Cow and Wario)
A	Rosalina King Boo Lightweight characters (like Shy Guy and Baby Mario)
B	Luigi Mario Other mediumweight characters (like Pauline and Yoshi)

Waluigi takes the top spot on our best offline / Time Trials character tier list not because he’s the best heavy character (we’ll get to them) but because of his small hitbox. Waluigi clearly takes care of himself so, unlike the other heavyweight characters, he takes up far less space. Thanks to this, Waluigi’s smaller hit box means he’s able to avoid items and other races with far more ease compared to other heavy characters while still benefitting from their increased speed and weight stats.

The actual best heavyweight character in World is Bowser and he comes in second due to his large hitbox. Sure Bowser may have the best speed and weight stats in the game, allowing him to go fast and knock opponents out the way, but that larger hitbox makes him far more of a target than Waluigi.

If you don’t fancy playing as either Waluigi or Bowser, then any of the heavyweight characters will suit you well in both offline play and the Time Trails. This includes Wario, Donkey Kong and, of course, the Cow. Whoever you pick, we recommend pairing them with the Baby Blooper. As we’ve covered in our best kart combo guide, the Baby Blooper’s strong acceleration and handling works well with the high weight and speed stats of heavy characters, which results in a balanced combo.

Don’t like the heavy characters? Well you always try using a lightweight character like Shy Guy, Baby Mario or Baby Peach. These characters also work well with the Baby Blooper thanks to already having strong acceleration and handling stats. Rosalina is also a good choice thanks to her speed and handling stats, which are handy for tracks with tight curves. (Just make sure you stay on the track!) The same goes for King Boo who has similar stats to Rosalina.

Finally, you can always go with a medium weight character. The best choices out of the bunch being, of course, Mario and Luigi. Their stats are basically identical, and any difference is quite small, so it just comes down to personal preference between the two and I’m not weighing in on that. If you don’t fancy playing as one of the brothers, however, then you can always play as another of the mediumweight characters like Pauline or Peach.

Hope this helps you pick the right Mario Kart World character for you! We’ve also got a kart tier list and a best kart combo guide if you’re looking for more karting assistance.